England captain Heather Knight plans to meet with exiled members of Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team next week during the second ODI of the Women’s Ashes in Melbourne.

Female participation in sport in Afghanistan has effectively been outlawed since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, with the women’s cricket team fleeing the country, seeking refuge in Pakistan before they were granted emergency visas for Australia, where most of them currently reside.

The England men’s side are due to play Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy on February 26 but there have been calls from campaign groups and a group of more than 160 politicians in the UK to boycott the match, while the ECB has called on the ICC to take action against the Afghanistan Cricket Board.

And speaking on the eve of England’s opening match of the multi-format Women’s Ashes against Australia, which starts on Saturday at 11.30pm GMT with the first of three ODIs, Knight was glad that the plight of the Afghanistan women’s team is being highlighted and revealed she hopes to meet members of the team next week.

“Some of them are coming to our game at Junction [Oval] next week, so I’m hoping to meet them after the game,” said Knight.

“I think it’s a really good thing that people are talking about it and it’s in the news again because honestly I think it’s been forgotten a lot, which is a really bad thing.

“Obviously it’s a really complex situation with what’s going on but I think the biggest positive can be those group of women being talked about.”

The Afghanistan side are playing an exhibition match against a Cricket Without Borders XI in Melbourne this month.

“They’re playing a game at Junction, I think the first day of our Test match, so I’d love to see that broadcast far and wide,” added Knight.

“Let’s get that voice out there that those women are playing cricket, which is a really cool thing.

“I think that can be a really positive message from a pretty heart-breaking situation.”

Afghanistan cricket Q&A: Everything you need to know

Who has spoken out?

Nobody from the Afghanistan men’s team has spoken out in support of their female counterparts.

However, various human rights organisations have spoken out over the years.

In 2023, Human Rights Watch called the situation in Afghanistan “a form of gender apartheid”.

Last year, Amnesty International also weighed in urging the ICC to stop ignoring the women’s team and provide them with support, saying: “It’s horrendous that the cricket team had to flee for their safety, but it’s also extremely concerning that Afghan women cricketers feel so let down by the ICC and the international cricketing community.

“Having rightly pledged to uphold anti-discrimination values, the ICC needs to stop ignoring Afghanistan’s brave women’s team and set about providing them with proper recognition and support.”

England Women’s head coach Jon Lewis also expressed his support: “I think they should play. Everyone deserves the right to represent their country in any sport that they choose.

“The fact that they are being denied that, from my point of view, I don’t believe that’s the right decision.”

More recently, a group of more than 160 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, signed a letter urging for England’s boycott of the men’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called for the ICC to “deliver their own rules”, with the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying the match “should go ahead” as not to penalise the England team, but suggested that British dignitaries should snub the event.

With pressure mounting on the ECB, its chief Richard Gould wrote to his ICC counterpart urging the sport’s global governing body to consider taking action against the Afghanistan Cricket Board.

What has the ICC done?

In 2021, the ICC established an Afghanistan Working Group to help influence change and monitor the situation in the country.

However, the entire board was all-male and had no representation from the Afghanistan women’s team.

Following a meeting in 2023, the cricket chiefs significantly raised Afghanistan’s budget while providing no update on the women’s team.

While the women’s team were living in exile, they were completely ignored by the ICC, with the governing body also not responding to Sky Sports’ requests for comment on the situation.

But now with politicians contributing to the discourse, an ICC spokesperson told Sky Sports News: “The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members.

“We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the ACB in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.

“The ICC has established an Afghanistan Cricket Task Force, chaired by deputy chairman Mr Imran Khwaja, who will lead the ongoing dialogue on this matter.”

ICC regulations state full membership is conditional upon having women’s cricket teams and pathway structures in place.

However, the men’s team has been allowed to participate in ICC tournaments without any sanctions.